not going shopping

not going shopping charts the process of the artist Anthony Luvera working with a group of eleven people to create photographic work for Queer in Brighton, a project that celebrates the cultural heritage of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender people living in Brighton and Hove.

Wednesday, 26 February 2014

After all the weeks of work we put into creating our portraits, it was pretty exciting to finally see them, in all their giantness, up on the walls around brighton.

I was kinda surprised that when I found my poster I actually felt very self conscious. There are perhaps levels of being out.

Being out as trans to your friends and families is one thing, being out as T in a room of LGBT people who assume you're G is another thing. Having your face on the wall facing the seafront, identifying yourself as queer - thats a whole new world of out.

Taking part in the project was sometimes difficult for me, but only because I was unsure of how I fit the word 'queer' into my life, and how to find images that showed that. I didn't find the idea of being out as queer difficult, until I was on the side of a building.

Not that I regret doing it. I am just extremely lucky, that I have not faced intimidation on a regular basis because of my identity. I came out at my own pace, in my own time. I am unused to feeling exposed.